


An Empty House

by KnightOfWren



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Canon Divergence, Character dies of natural causes, M/M, Suicidal Ideation, goku is sad, referred character death, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:03:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8141486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightOfWren/pseuds/KnightOfWren
Summary: "Kakarot, enough," Vegeta says. "I'm tired." It has been a long lifetime."I know." Gods help him, he isn't ready to say goodbye. At last, Goku laughs weakly and tries to pretend his voice is steady when he asks, "Are you sure I can't go too?"They both know the answer, because the universe needs its protector too much, and Goku is something of a god, too.





	

Goku’s soul is burning.

His heart and mind are on fire because he is not a stupid man and he knows there must be a limit to how many times someone can live. Even miracles will run out of magic eventually, and even a Saiyan will grow old and die, given enough years.

He suffers his immolation as he lies in bed and strokes his prince’s hair, at last gone gray above a regally lined face, and he knows—they both know—that the end has finally, truly come. They are the last two left, of their people and of their families. They have buried wives and children, grandchildren and brothers chosen by the heart rather than blood. And now Goku can feel his other half slipping through his fingers, drops of life as fickle as drops of water, for what he understands with utter certainty is the last time. Vegeta will not return from Otherworld again, and Goku will continue, perpetual, forever.

“Are you with me?” he whispers into Vegeta’s ear.

“Yes,” Vegeta says, his voice little more than a breath.

“Maybe,” Goku murmurs, “we can cheat. We’ll find some Potara earrings and be one. I don't mind getting old. We’ll be together forever.”

“Kakarot,” Vegeta sighs with the tired kind of patience cultivated over decades.

“No, really. It could work. We've. If it took too long to find some, we’ve fused when you were dead before. I'm sure King Yemma will let you wait for me.”

“Kakarot, enough.”

“I don't want you to go.” The words explode from him violently, acid in his throat. Goku feels guilt percolating in his stomach. He knows he's being selfish, but he can't defeat the fear in him of feeling truly alone. He doesn't fit anywhere anymore.

“Kakarot, enough,” Vegeta says again, turning to him and opening his eyes. Goku knows what he will say before he finishes forming the words. “I'm tired.” It has been a long lifetime.

“I know.” Goku feels his eyes burning because he knows, but gods help him, he isn't ready to say goodbye. He somehow convinced himself that this day would never come, and now that it has all he wants is to deeply deny it. “I know, I just…”

“I know,” Vegeta echoes, and they fall silent.

By morning, Vegeta is gone.

The first grave Son Goku ever dug was for the man who raised him. He still remembers how light and breakable his grandpa’s body felt, having been crushed beneath a monster ape. Goku has buried Vegeta before, too, but that was Before and now there is a heavy sense of permanence in every movement. This time, everything has changed forever.

When the dirt has been packed down firm, he flies to Kami’s lookout where Dende and Popo are waiting for him. They are something of friends and something of gods and they have already seen.

They do not speak for a time. At last, Goku laughs weakly and tries to pretend his voice is steady when he asks, “Are you sure I can't go too?”

Dende gazes at him sadly because they both already know the answer. The universe needs its protector too badly, and Goku is something of a god too.

“Immortality can be a heavy burden,” Dende offers, and that is answer enough. Why so many people fought so hard to live forever, why they feared death with such violence, Goku will never understand.

“I miss him,” Goku says. “I miss them all.”

Dende lays a hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly.

Goku returns home to an empty house and finds he doesn't know what to do. It's been so long since he hasn't had anyone waiting for him at home. Even as a child, really, he'd felt as though his grandpa’s spirit lingered in their home to greet him at the end of each day. This sensation is alien and unwelcome. He searches for warm energy, for some familiarity to suggest Vegeta remains with him to at least some degree, even still. He might be imagining it, he supposes, but he convinces himself that what he detects is real.

“What now?” he asks the empty house.

Live, the air seems to say. But how does he do that now?

Goku goes into the kitchen and cooks his evening meal. He fixes all his favorites, remembering how it tasted when Chichi did this each night. The house smells full and happy, at least, when he sits down to eat at a table set for two.


End file.
